Famous Writers and a Few of their favorite things 2

The Second Installment

ISAAC ASIMOV

Long before the cult classic jargon of Star Trek, one of history's greatest writers had a secret guilty pleasure - he was a sci-fi junkie. The penman of the famed Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov loved science-fiction magazines. The obsession began in his early teenage years when he reveled in the excitement of his favorite heroes - Shadow and Doc Savage - and dreamed about outer space, time travel, and the mysterious unknown. He wrote letters to the editors of his favorite magazine, trying to get his own sci-fi short stories printed. Asimove even offered the magazine advice , asking the staff to smooth out the rough edges of the paper they printed ob and giving them his opinion on his favorite stories. Although he rarely received a response, Asimove did become pen pals with the other science- fiction junkies who had their letters published in the magazines. They frequently exchanged issues and stories through mail.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

Isaac Asimov's fascination with science fiction as a boy led him to write his first story, Cosmic Corkscrew, at just seventeen years old.

Books by Isaac Asimov

J.K. ROWLING

Most authors wouldn't be pleased to find out that their highly anticipated work was prematurely put on the shelves ,but Harry Potter mogul J.K. Rowling made millions on the mishap. On June 19 2003, Rowling found out that the New York Daily News had picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix at a local health store and printed information about the plotline before its true release-date two days later. The article also included a photo of an inside spread of the book with two pages perfectly readable. Her fans may have had the secrets spoiled, but Rowling raked in $100 million.

DID YOU KNOW...

J. K. Rowling is a fan of actor Aaron Sarkin from the American television show The West Wing.

BFFs

Henry David Thoreau

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were best friends. The land where Thoreau build his cabin on Walden Pond belonged to Emerson, and Emerson hired Thoreau to perform odd jobs at his house for extra-money. In fact, ater leaving Walden, Thoreau lived in Emerson's house while he was away on tour. However, the friendship soured after Emerson gave his buddy some bad business advice, he told him to publish his first book without many edits and advised him to use a publisher who made him take responsibility for much of the losses, the book bombed and Thoreau was in debt.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

Convinced that his hero Harry Houdini was possessed by supernatural powers, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was amazed. The two men were friends for a time until Houdini tried to convince him that the tricks were simply magic. Bitterly disagreeing on the issue of just how "real" the tricks were, the two butted heads until they had a very public falling out.

TRUMAN CAPOTE

While working on his final research for the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote desperately needed access to real,hardened criminals at the state penitentiary in Kansas. He found his men on death row, living with nothing more than a cot and a toilet. They showered once a weel. However, to convince authorities to let him have at-will contact and mail privilges with two criminals ( he was neither a relative or a lawyer) he bribed prison authorities with $10,000. The inmates, Perry and Dick, wrote him letters by the hundreds describing life behind bars -and the book was a hit.

DID YOU KNOW..

While researching for In Cold Blood, Truman Capote became pen pals with the two convicted criminals on death row who requested two things from him - a dictionary and a thesaurus. They wanted their descriptions of prison life to be more accurate and sound smart, but their verbage was superflous. One wrote that he had " many diverse subjects I am desirous to discuss".

DANIELLE STEEL

Romance novelist Danielle Steele has always been known for her ability to describe lovers in bliss but, unfortunately, she was rarely putting her own love life on paper. In fact Steel has been married a total of five times. Her first wedding at age eighteen, was to Claude- Eric Lazard. The couple had one daughter before she moved onto second beau- a convicted rapist named Danny Zugelder. It wasn't long before they separated and Steel found herself pregnant - out of wedlock- by a druggie named William Toth. To give their son a daddy (for a short while), the couple got married. Her fourth husband, John Traina, had two sons of his own. The couple also had four daughters and a son...But, as usual, Steel moved on when Tom Perkins came around.

Latest Book of Danielle Steel

Honore de Balzac was a maniac when it came to his work. He would stay up writing for fifteen hours at a time, throwing back as many cups of black coffee as he could. It's a wonder he kept up the social life he needed in order to complete the research for his books. In fact, many of his stories were based on the conversations he overheard at parties. As he sucked down the caffeine, Balzac would edit his work over and over, annoying his printers with obscure last minute changes.

L.FRANK BAUM

MGM Studios often turns to secondhand clothes at garage sales around Hollywood, so while preparing for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz ,based on the book by L.Frank Baum, they hit the sales for some costumes. Ironically, when Wizard actor Frank Morgan put on his wardrobe for filimng, one day, he noticed a label on his overcoat. It read "Property of L. Frank Baum:. Morgan got a laugh out of it, but after filming, Baum's wife looked at the costume and confirmed that it had been the author's. The had donated the jacket to charity several months before.

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